Monday, February 23, 2009

HISTORY BIT: PULLMAN PORTERS


In an era when America traveled by train, one of the best jobs a black man could land was working
as a Pullman porter. It also was one of the worst. The hours were grueling — 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The first Pullman porters, hired after the Civil War, were former slaves. Their ranks swelled until they reached 20,000 in the early part of the 20th century, making them the largest group of African-American men employed in the country.

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